Wellington’s earthquake risk has motivated its residents to help the government make the city more resilient, but costly earthquake strengthening work and surges in insurance premiums aren’t making things easier.
Mike Mendonca, chief resilience officer at Wellington City Council, shared that tenants and landlords are helping the local and central government find ways to cope with earthquake risk.
“What we’re really pleased about is the market has responded. Tenants and occupants are now demanding more resilient buildings, and owners are responding,” Mendonca told Stuff.co.nz.
However, some residents are struggling to cope as they are faced with multi-million-dollar earthquake strengthening work and surges in insurance premiums – milking residents’ savings dry.
Geraldine Murphy, of Inner City Wellington, shared that some homeowners even refused to take out natural disaster insurance – putting their homes and investments at risk.
The insurance issue has become so bad that Wellington Mayor Justin Lester organised a forum with the insurance industry.
John Shewan, director of Munich Re, commented that they’re concerned about the lack of resilience in the country’s buildings.
Tim Grafton, chief executive at Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ), meanwhile, suggested constructing better, more resilient buildings.
He said the damage to mainly modern buildings should “spark a rethink of not only what we design and build but also the rating system, building codes, the Earthquake Prone Building regime and the Building Act that houses it all.”
